1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stick-like object receiving member used for a writing instrument etc. and, more particularly, to a stick-like object receiving member having safety precautions and a barrel provided with the stick-like object receiving member.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an example of a conventional stick-like object receiving member of this type, there is an eraser receiving member that is mounted in the end portion of a writing instrument to receive an eraser. This eraser receiving member can be removed from the body of the writing instrument as it is mounted detachably to the end portion of the writing instrument, and it is considerably smaller than the writing instrument as a whole in this state. Considering a case where the eraser receiving member or the writing instrument is swallowed inadvertently in a state in which the eraser receiving member is removed from the body of writing instrument or in a state in which the eraser receiving member is mounted, it is necessary to provide safety precautions to the eraser receiving member to secure the airway.
As an eraser receiving member provided with such safety precautions, for example, a safety cap described in National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2001-504764 is known. The safety cap described in this Publication has a cylindrical hollow body, an eraser formed of a substantially solid material, which is accommodated in one end of the hollow body and has a portion extending beyond the end of the body, and an air passage disposed between the outer peripheral surface of the eraser and the inner peripheral surface of the body to secure the airway from one end of the body via the body. This air passage is created as a space formed between the inner peripheral surface of the body and the outer peripheral surface of the eraser by a plurality of protrusions formed on the inner peripheral surface of the body or by a plurality of protrusions formed on the outer peripheral surface of the eraser.
However, the safety cap described in this Publication utilizes the small protrusions formed on the inner peripheral surface of the body or on the outer peripheral surface of the eraser to form the air passage, and thus presents a problem in that only a very narrow gap is formed between the inner peripheral surface of the body and the outer peripheral surface of the eraser, which is not satisfactory for the air passage. In order to form a large air passage, the heights of protrusions must be increased. In this case, however, the outside diameter of eraser becomes small, so that the eraser itself must be made small. Maintaining the size of eraser makes it necessary to increase the inside diameter of body. This results in the increased size of body, and may adversely affect the design of writing instrument.